


Maria and the Dolls

by PurpleOffbeat



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dolls, Gen, Hospitalization, One Shot, Tearjerker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:40:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22613461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurpleOffbeat/pseuds/PurpleOffbeat
Summary: Maria is just a simple girl who looks for fun in the confines of her small room. Bored beyond reason, she begins making her own dolls to entertain herself. She creates the most fantastical adventures with them and she spends all her time doing just that.One day however, instead of playing, she is crying. She begins saying goodbye to all her dolls...(AU - Sonic and co. are all dolls created by a hospitalized Maria, except for Shadow who was made by Gerald.)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 30





	Maria and the Dolls

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that writing sounds childish both because I'm a novice writer and because it's meant to reflect Maria's mental age. Also I was under a time limit when I first wrote this.

Maria is crying. She knows what’s going to happen.

Her family is sadder than ever. They were always sad, but yesterday they were crying too. She doesn’t want anyone to cry, she wants everyone to be happy no matter what happens. She wants them to be able to look back on the past with a smile, not with tears.

But even she was crying. It was painful for everyone.

As a little kid, Maria was allowed to go outside to the garden every now and then. It wasn’t too big, so it’s not like it was particularly exciting. Other kids would always either eventually go home, or they would have to leave the world forever. That was always very painful. But the garden was the place where she could see animals. Some birds would come, but everytime Maria tried to get near, they would always fly away. Sometimes a cat would sneak in, but they also ran away when she got near. The only other animals were dogs, but you can’t pet or play with service dogs, so she never really had the chance to have an animal friend.

Maria loved animals. Her family was always giving her books about all kinds of animals all around the world. She especially liked the kinds of animals that usually weren’t taken in as pets. Cute, small, wild animals, woodland creatures, those were the best.

Maria also loved to sew and crochet. Her grandpa had taught her how to make her own dolls to play with, since her family couldn’t afford to give her a lot of toys. But making your own toys was fun and cheap, so Maria made tons of her own dolls.

The first doll she had ever made was her favorite. A cute little blue hedgehog, and he saved the world everytime something bad happened. An evil man who made machines to conquer the world, he was the second doll. Maria kept making tons of different dolls, colorful animals who fought against the bad guys, and they always won.

Every day was the same. Being cooped up in a room all that time made any child bored beyond reason. So Maria made her own stories with her dolls. At first, the stories were simple. But as the years passed and the usual stories became boring, Maria started coming up with more elaborate stories. All sorts of adventures that her dolls went on. The only real excitement she could have.

But one time, for her birthday, her grandpa made her another doll for her to play with. It looked a lot like the hedgehog Maria loved so much. He was black and red, with a smile on his face. However, the smile started to come loose, and not wanting to tell grandpa there was a problem with his present, Maria stitched his smile herself. It ended up looking like a frown, and grandpa spotted it anyway, but Maria just said that he was a grumpy, but good person.

He became her new favorite. Grandpa’s present was the best one! And so, Maria made him the most powerful. He had energy attacks, he could teleport, he was super fast; he was the best. So Maria made him the new protagonist.

She named him Shadow. Not only was he similar to the first doll, but also it was because, in Maria’s own words, “Darkness is darkness no matter where you go, but a shadow tells you the direction in which the light is shining!”. She thought it was the perfect name, and grandpa agreed with her, surprised at how beautiful that thought was.

However, as luck would have it, grandpa died soon after. Poor Maria could barely cope with such a sudden loss. Everytime she looked at Shadow, she would think of grandpa, who was now in a place they always called Heaven, and she felt an immense pain. She started playing with Shadow less and less, even if he was still her favorite.

The adventures continued, but Maria wasn’t allowed to go out as frequently. Each day became more and more monotonous, and her family’s smiles showed the pain in their hearts more obviously.

But not everything was bad. She still had food and water everyday. The nurses played with her still. Maria knew how many children were out there who didn’t have what she had. She felt like she was a really lucky girl.

So the stories continued, but her condition worsened. Now, as a 12-year-old, Maria was bedridden. She felt like playing with dolls was already too childish for her, but she didn’t really care.

Today was different.

Maria is crying. She knows what’s going to happen.

The doctors and the nurses keep talking quietly outside her room. She’s feeling weaker than ever.

She knows she’s going to get a visit from her family. Maria knows it’s gonna be the last time.

She doesn’t want anyone to cry. She wants everyone to be happy, live happily and keep smiling. She wants that for the entire world. She doesn’t want people to keep thinking about her, like she could never stop thinking about grandpa.

So she started to say goodbye to her dolls. She made the good guys win against the bad guys one last time, and this time the bad guys were caught. They were either going to prison, or they were going to turn into good guys. It didn’t really matter anymore. She hugged and gave a kiss to every single one of her dolls, even the bad ones, because without the bad guys, there’s no adventure to be had, though she also reprimanded them. The last one she said goodbye to was Shadow. She gave him the tightest, longest hug and the biggest kiss. She cried so much, she couldn’t see anything.

When mom and dad come to see her, she’s going to tell them to take care of her dolls. They need to keep an eye on the bad guys, but if they did anything the good guys would save them! She’s going to tell them their names and explain all they need to know. Maybe that really was childish, but she still didn’t care.

It was sad, yes, but Maria still felt like a lucky girl. Soon, she was gonna have to go to Heaven, but at least she’s going to see grandpa again, and they’re gonna make lots of dolls and play together again.

**Author's Note:**

> Shadow quote from https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/2438199 (warning: site allows for NSFW art, browse at your own discretion)  
> Originally posted on https://purpleoffbeat.tumblr.com/post/185408404823/maria


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